The Spice Report

RedMane creates software that improves businesses and lives. The company works with a level of purpose and integrity that’s quite unique, and its leaders genuinely care about people. This includes employees, clients, and even strangers in a crisis.

As we dip into these upcoming days of sub-freezing high temperatures, I thought it might be nice for us to virtually experience a little warm weather getaway. Discovery Channel did a wonderful job last year of recording a journey on the Scream roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, in Valencia, California. The fact that the recording was done in 360° video makes it exponentially more interesting to watch.

This month's stand-out digital ad comes from IKEA, the Swedish company that's all about efficiency. They want to get simple, cheap, easy-to-build furniture in your hands quickly, and they've extended this idea to their digital marketing campaign. To keep their advertising simple and easy, they give you a choice of whether you want to see their products or not. Check out their refreshingly honest campaign here.

And this year it’s all about results. Marketers are focusing more efforts on existing customers. They are also allocating 9.2% of their total marketing investment to analytics—the most of any of the 13 marketing capabilities in the survey.

Who—besides a barefoot parent—doesn't love LEGO? I’ve always known that LEGO bricks came from a magical land in Denmark, but had never had a glimpse of what that world looked like. Well, thanks to the New York Times’ Daily 360 crew, we now have an opportunity to see 360° footage of those inspirational blocks being made and distributed.

One of the fundamentals of strategic theory relates to thinking forward and reasoning backwards. The dollar auction is a great example.

So, how do you sell a dollar for more than a $1.00? Take a group of people and offer to auction off your dollar in five-cent bid increments. The high bidder wins, but the second highest bidder, the loser, has to give up their losing bid. You’ll almost always get more than $1.00 for your dollar—guaranteed.